Telling the Girls: A Scars Sequel
by You'veGotMeAndJesus
Summary: Read Scars before you read this story please! In this sequel, the boys finally tell the girls what they've been hiding. This will be a two-shot and the first one is Campbell's story; the second one is Eli's. Christian content
1. Chapter 1

**Hey,guys! I know I haven't written anything in a long time, but I'm pretty much limited to weekends. Super busy with school work. Anyway, this is a sequel to Scars. You pretty much have to read Scars in order to understand this story, so please go do that if you have yet to do so. Also, my tenses are EVERYWHERE! I tried to make them parallel, but I decided not to mess with it. I'll let you read now. Enjoy (: **

Cam:

This is it. Today is the day that I tell Maya the truth about my life. Eli and I made an agreement a few days ago that if I told Maya about my past, he would tell Clare about his. Both of us have a very interesting and heartbreaking story to tell, and it was time for me to tell mine.

Should I really go through with it though? I mean, I _am_ legally bound to secrecy. Sure I already told Eli, but should I tell anyone else? If I told some guy I just met a few minutes prior, I can tell my own girlfriend, right? But what if she gets angry, or scared, or thinks I'm a bad person? On the other hand, if I don't tell her and she somehow figures out that I hid my real life from her, she'll dump me anyway. Eli assured me that Maya wouldn't do that, but he doesn't actually know her. Eli and I only became friends a few days ago ourselves: we haven't met each other's significant others yet.

I was almost to Maya's house. Eli and I were at The Dot around an hour ago when I texted her asking if I could come over and that we needed to talk about something. I hate saying that phrase because it always makes the girl think you're breaking up with them, but I didn't have much of a choice. Anyway, doubts were still going through my mind at a constant speed, even though I had my IPod in to attempt to block some of it out. So many things could go wrong. Maybe someone could find out and turn me in, or worse; maybe the gang members could find out where I am.

Just as I decided that I wasn't going to do it, a new song came on my IPod:

_She holds for dear life to the ends of the sleeves in her hands_

_Covering up lies that she wrote with a razor sharp pen_

_And the sting of the blade was no match for the pain_

_Of the loneliness she's going through_

_But we've all been there too_

That's weird. I don't remember putting this song on here. Eli must have added it without me knowing.

_Praise God we don't have to hide scars_

_They just strengthen our wounds and they soften our hearts_

_They remind us of where we have been, not who we are_

Wait a minute! Those lyrics. Of course! Eli pretty much said the exact same thing to me the other day. I guess I know where he got that from. I pushed the back button on my IPod to start the song over and listen to the words a little closer.

_She holds for dear life to the ends of the sleeves in her hands_

_Covering up lies that she wrote with a razor sharp pen._

Whoa! Talk about a freaky coincidence.

_Praise God we don't have to hide scars_

I have no idea who this is or how it got here, I just know that Eli has a pretty good taste in music. That song pretty much described my situation to a tee, and there was no way I could deny the message that I was receiving loud and clear.

Maya:

Campbell called me about an hour ago asking if he could come meet me at my house and talk. He also specifically said to make sure we were alone. What could he possibly have to talk about that required complete solitude? My thoughts were interrupted by the ring of my doorbell. I walked to the door and beckoned my apprehensive-looking boyfriend into my house.

"What's up, Cam?" I questioned.

"I need to tell you something. It's not going to be easy to hear, but one of the most important things in a relationship is trust."

"Okay," I gulped. "It took some convincing, but I did manage to send my parents out for a movie date. Katie was easy: she's over at Jake's house."

"Okay, good. I really hope I'm not scaring you be being so creepy and secretive, but I'm really not supposed to tell you this and I need to make sure it doesn't get out," he explained.

That made me feel so much better…not. Now I was curious. "Campbell, did you do something illegal?" I asked him jokingly. When I saw his face, eyes slightly bugging out and a deer-in-the-headlights kind of look, I really started freaking out. "Campbell, what did you do?" He took a deep breath, and then proceeded to completely make my heart stop.

"That's the first thing I have to tell you. My name's not Campbell."

"What are you talking about?"

"Hello, Maya Matlin. Nice to meet you. My name is Jordan Cunningham.

Cam:

I can't believe I just said that. Well, there's no turning back now. I either tell her, or I leave her with that one piece of information and have her think I'm some kind of crazy person and call the cops on me. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'll be walking out that door a single man, so we'll just go with the first option.

"If this is a joke, I –"

"No, Maya. It's not a joke. Can we sit down?" I could tell she was pretty taken aback, but she eventually went to sit down on the couch, and I sat on the coffee table in front of her. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. However, you need to know that this is all in my past and that you have nothing to worry about. This is just something that has been bothering me for a long time now, and I thought I should share it with you." She loosed up her facial expression slight, but otherwise continued to stare at me with anticipation.

"Just tell me, C -. Just tell me. I can handle it."

The fact that my own girlfriend didn't even know who I was or what to call me was enough to get my story started. "Okay, so my name is Jordan Cunningham and I'm from The Bronx, New York. I used to lead a fairly normal life. Mom was a lawyer, Dad owned a small shop in town, and I was happy kid. That is, until my Dad died. You see, other than my dad's shop, he had a 'job on the side' if you know what I mean."

"Oh, Campbell, I'm so sorry. I-I mean –"

"It's okay if you still call me Campbell. You still have to call me that in public anyway, so you probably shouldn't get too comfortable with Jordan. One slipup and there would be questions," I explained.

"Right. Okay," she responded. She appeared very uneasy, so I reached out and took both of her hands in mine and kissed them. She just continued to start at me with these lost eyes. I would give anything to be able to tell her that this was all a joke; she'd probably be extremely mad at me, but somehow I feel that the look she would give me at that moment would be better than the one she's giving me now. But it's too late for that. I can't turn back now.

"So after my dad was killed, his game needed a new front man. So who did they find but little old me. After that, I did some bad stuff. Stuff I'm not proud of at all, but you have to understand that I no longer had a father figure, Mom was always at the office, and I was at a very impressionable age. Plus, there's the whole I'll-shoot-you-if-you-don't-do-what-I-say ordeal."

"This isn't funny, Campbell," she told me, her voice cracking. Man, I did it now.

"I'm sorry," I told her sincerely as I shifted from the coffee table to the couch beside her. A tear rolled down her face and I enveloped her in a hug. "Baby, I'm sorry, but there's one more thing I have to tell you." She released me at this, and I told her my next piece of information. "Remember when I cut my hand a little while ago with my skate?" She nodded her head, seeming to know where this was going. "Well it wasn't an accident, and it wasn't the first time."

At this, she lost it. I took her in my arms once again and she buried her head in my chest. "I'm so sorry, Cam. I had no idea!"

"I'm sorry too, Maya."

She sniffles for a second and then leans back up. "Why are _you _sorry?"

"I'm sorry that I've been so distant lately. I'm sorry I didn't tell you why. I'm sorry ever since the first day I met you, I've been lying to you. I'm sorry that you can probably never look at me the same way again. Most importantly, I'm sorry that you have such a delinquent, terrible person as a boyfriend," I explained, my voice cracking as well.

That statement made her expression change from sad, to angry, to hurt, to maternal. "You are not a terrible person, Campbell. You've just had some pretty terrible things happen to you. Sure, you've done things that aren't exactly goody-two-shoes material, but you had to do that to stay safe. Just like you had to hide your true identity from me to keep you safe. I know that's not you. And as for the cutting, I understand your reasoning behind that as well. You couldn't tell anyone about your struggles, so you had to find a way to deal with it. I'm not saying it was a good idea, but you had to let it out. Now that you have me to confide in, you don't need to do that anymore."

I was brought to tears by her words and her understanding. "So you're not breaking up with me?" I asked, overjoyed because I already knew the answer.

"Of course not," she told me as she brushed my face with the back of her hand. "I'm upset that you've had such a hard life, but I'm just glad that you don't have to go back to it," she explained.

Something came over me in that moment: my stomach started turning and I felt this overwhelming warmth inside me. Then, I said something that I never knew to be more true than in this very moment. "I love you, Maya."

She looked slightly taken aback before she smile one of the brightest smile I'd ever seen. "I love you too," she responded. She hugged me again, even tighter than the first two, and then brought her lips to mine in a gentle kiss. "Nothing you've done in the past will ever change that."

I brought our lips back together and rested my forehead on hers. "How did I get so lucky?" I questioned, barely a whisper.

"I don't know, but whatever the reason is, it fortunately applies to both of us."

I removed my forehead from hers so I could place a gentle kiss there and then proceeded to stand up. I held out my hands for her to take and pulled her up as well. "I have to go, but I'll call you later, okay? Maybe we could go see a movie or something?"

"I'd love that. Bye, Cam."

"Bye, beautiful. I love you."

"Love you too."

I gave her one last kiss before I walked out her door with a smile on my face. That went immensely better than I thought. Eli was actually right: I don't know why I ever doubted her. Speaking of Eli, I told him I would text him when this was all over.

"_Hey, Man. Are you still at The Dot?" _I texted.

_"Yeah I was just about to leave. Did you talk to her? How'd it go?"_

_ "Tell you when I get there. See you in ten."_

Eli:

Well, it sounds like he did it. The fact that he didn't tell me anything made me slightly nervous. That means it either went really well or really bad. Hopefully not the ladder. I'm the one who encouraged him t tell Maya the truth. If she rejects him because of it, he'll blame it on me. Rightfully so, but I still don't want him to get hurt, and I don't want to lose him as a friend either. We're a lot alike, me and him. However, we're also very different. I think that's what makes a good friendship. If you got along with someone absolutely all the time, that wouldn't be much fun. At least not for me. Arguing is in my DNA. It's a good thing too, because I have a feeling that my newfound religion is going to invite a lot of arguing between the two of us. I'm excited for that, but soon we'll have another problem we'll have to worry about. That problem starts as soon as he walks through that door.

Cam:

A few minutes after I stopped texting, I made my way to The Dot. I could see Eli sitting in the same spot where I left him. When I walked through the door, his eyes jolted upward from his comic book. I sat down and waited to be question-bombed. I was not disappointed.

"So? How'd it go? How'd she react? Are you still-?"

"Eli! You're acting like an obsessive teenage girl." I exclaimed jokingly.

"Well, your two-thirds right," he responded with a smile. "Now tell me."

"It went surprisingly well actually. I don't know what I was so worried about. She understood everything."

"See, I told you she would!"

"That song you put on my IPod really helped too. I was just about to give up," After I said this, Eli looked rather confused.

"Campbell, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Aw, c'mon man! Don't play with me. You practically quoted it when we were talking the other day."

"Well, let me take a listen; maybe I'll recognize it."

I pulled out my IPod and gave him one earphone. I put the other one in my own ear and turned the player on. The song was already playing from when I last had it on. I pushed the back button to start over and we began to listen.

When the song was over, Eli took the earphone out of his ear and handed it back to me. "Wow," he said. "I did pretty much quote that!"

"Yes you did. Now you know what I'm talking about," I told him, thinking I had won the argument.

"Dude, I've never heard that song before in my life."

It was then that I officially began to believe in God.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, lovely readers! Finally finished Eli's part of this story. I gotta say, I love being able to write for God and write adorable EClare scenes at the same time! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this final installment of Telling the Girls! And always remember, when you think you're all alone, you've got me and Jesus :)**

Eli:

"Alright,man. I spilled my guts. Now it's your turn," my newfound friend Campbell Saunders, a.k.a Jordan Cunningham, said to me.

"Now? I don't know if I'm ready. I was going to write it down before I talked to her."

"Do you hear yourself? This kind of conversation doesn't come with note cards, Eli. You've just gotta go over there and let the words flow from your heart. And don't let your brain get involved because it will tell you not to tell her. You've just gotta take a deep breath, and let it fly."

"Rip the bandage off?" I questioned, making a connection between Cam's words and the words of my other dear friend.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed.

"Remind me to introduce you to Adam later."

We made small talk for another few minutes until Campbell asked me a seemingly innocent question:

"Hey, can I borrow your phone? I left mine on the charger," he asked as he patted his pant pockets to discover that they were empty.

"Sure," I replied. He happily took my pone and then attempted to use it. He lifted it up in the air and then explained that he couldn't get service.

"I'm going to see if I can get any bars over there," he proclaimed as he got up and moved to the corner of the room. He turned his back to me and lifted my phone up in the air. When it appeared that he had achieved his goal, he put the phone back down to where I couldn't see it and started to send a text message. When he was finished, he came and sat back down with a sly grin on his face.

It was then that I realized something: Campbell didn't leave his phone on the charger at home. He used it to text Maya like two hours ago! That little sneak! "Campbell?" I asked. "What did you do?" He didn't get to respond to me because at that moment, my phone buzzed. I looked down at the phone and looked back at Campbell, of whom was doing his best to keep a straight face, but failing miserably.

"Answer it," he demanded. I knew something was up. I just didn't know what. I decided to open the message to find out.

'Of course you can come over =) 3'

I looked at my phone, dumbfounded by the message that I had just read. I looked back up at Campbell and he had a huge smile on his face. "Campbell! You texted Clare?"

"Sorry, bro, but I had to. Let me know how it all turns out, "he replied before he began to get out of the booth. I cut him off before he could do so.

"Where do you think you're going?" I questioned him accusingly.

"Home most likely. You'd better hurry. Clare's expecting you in about ten minutes," he told me as he patted my shoulder, chuckled to himself, and left. . 'God really does have a good sense of humor for having us become friends,' I thought.

I just stood there with my mouth agape for a moment before I put a tip on the table and proceeded out the door. Apparently, I was on my way to see my girlfriend. Now I had to figure out what I was going to say to her. This wasn't like when we first met and I openly told her, "Hey, I killed my girlfriend!" This was different. That wasn't my fault, and I realize that now. I know I didn't actually kill Julia. The thing is, this is something I actually did do. I actually did hurt myself. I've even tried to kill myself a few times. I don't know how she's going to handle that, but it doesn't matter how she handles it; I just need to say it. It needs to be said for me, for Clare, and even for Campbell. If I'm going to be a good role model for him, I can't be a hypocrite. I've just gotta pray that God gives me the proper words to say.

By the time I was done with my internal pep talk, I realized that I had made it to Clare's house. It was time to suck it up and let it go. I managed to make my feet move to my destination and knock on her door. It took a moment, but she finally came to the door and opened it.

"Hey," she said. "What are you doing here?" **(1)**

"Wow. You really _do_ say that every time you open your door, don't you," I commented with my signature smirk.

"Shut up," she said playfully, smacking me in the chest before bringing her lips to mine briefly. "Now seriously. You wanted to talk about something?" She looked so adorable and innocent, and happy. I was unfortunately time to end her happiness. I took both of her hands in mine and brought them to my chest.

"I love you," I told her as I moved her hands to my lips to kiss them. "But I have to tell you something that you're really not going to like."

Her smile faded. "As your girlfriend or your accountability partner?" **(2)**

"Both," I responded. "We should sit down."

"Okay." She let go of one of my hands and dragged me by the other to her couch. I could tell that she was freaking out, so when I sat down, I attempted the signature smirk. However, as it turned out, not even the smirk cold cut the tension in that room.

"Out with it, Eli," she responded, already growing tired of beating around the bush.

"Okay. So, I've pretty much told you everything there is to tell about the whole Julia thing. But there is one thing that I haven't told you." I was so afraid of her reaction by this point that I couldn't bring myself to look at her.

"Eli," she began. "Whatever it is, we'll get through it. Eli, look at me," she said as she pulled my face to look square into hers. "I love you. I've loved you ever since you told me I had pretty eyes. We are Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes for goodness sakes. We can get through anything. But first, you have to tell me what it is we're supposed to get through," she explained. I gulped and wiped a tear away from my eye before I began.

"Actually, I'm a lot more like Sylvia Plath," I explained. **(3)**

"What do you mean?" she questioned. Then it dawned on her. I noticed a tear forming in her eye as well. "Eli? Eli, tell me you didn't."

As the tear fell I reached my hand up to capture it. "I'm sorry, Clare." After I said this, she took the hand that I had on her cheek and placed it in her own hand. She just stared at it for a while. I knew what she was looking for. I took my other hand, grabbed her other hand, and gently placed it on a deep, smooth line on my wrist. I looked into her eyes to see a film of tears about to spill over. The moment we made eye contact, she buried her head in my chest and began sobbing. "I'm sorry, " I told her, rubbing her back as she cried.

"I had no idea, Eli. If I would've known, I—"

"Clare, it was before I met you. I was in a really bad place after Julia. I felt so alone, and so to blame. It was the only thing I could think of at the time."

"Did you ever…" she began to ask.

"Try to kill myself? Yes, Clare, I did," I told her, my voice cracking slightly. "Thank God CeCe found me. When my parents found out, they went ballistic. That's why I came to Degrassi, Clare.

At this, she let go of my waist and looked me straight in the eye. "Y-you mean the day we met?"

"Two days after," I answered, knowing what she meant. She buried her head back in my chest again. "Oh, Eli."

I squeezed her shoulders and looked down at her. "Remember how I always used to call you my miracle girl?"

She took her head out of my chest again and looked up at me. "Yeah."

"Now you know why," I explained. "I got up that morning feeling like no one in the world could ever make me happy again. Then I ran over your glasses in the parking lot, and for a moment, I wasn't the kid everyone felt sorry for. I wasn't the kid who was blamed and hated by his ex-girlfriend's friends and family. I wasn't the kid who tried to kill himself. Clare, you made me Eli Goldsworthy again. I can never thank you enough," I explained, finally letting my tears fall. Clare wrapped her arms around my neck again and I gladly wrapped mine around her waist as I cried into her shoulder. She rubbed my back and ran her fingers through my hair. We stayed like that for what felt like hours, completely content in each other's company.

Eventually, I let her go and wiped some tears from my eyes. "Clare?" I questioned. She didn't answer; she just gave me a look that told me to go on with my thoughts. "A lot of guys tell their girlfriends that they are angels. Not a lot of guys actually mean it. After that day when you introduced me to God, I have no doubt in my mind that He brought you to me, and I hope that he never takes you away."

At this, she surprised me. She took my face in both of her hands and brought her lips to mine in a rather forceful manner. After I got over the initial shock, I eventually responded with an equal amount of force. Clare ran her tongue along my bottom lip, begging for entrance, and I happily granted her permission.

After the blissful kiss, she rested her forehead on top of mine. "I love you so much, Eli. I'm so glad that I've been able to help you so much. And I don't want God to ever separate us either."

"I love you too, Clare. More than you'll ever know."

After that, our conversation got a lot lighter we went back to our normal, goofy selves withing a matter of minutes. When I finally did have to leave, I kissed her once more and told her I'd text her later. When we said our goodbyes, I began walking when I stopped to look at her house again. _More than you'll ever know. _

**_*Author's Note: _**

**(1) I had to put this. I just had to. Classic. StuffClareSays :) **

**(2) Accountability partners is a term we use in my church a lot. Basically it's just someone you meet with every so often and talk about things you've done. This person holds you accountable. Generally, it's not supposed to be opposite sex pairings, but not in this story.**

**(3)This is from the beginning when Eli first came on. Mrs. Dawes tells Eli and Clare that they are like Sylvia Plath and Ted Houghs. Clare follows this with, "Sylvia Plath killed herself" hence Eli saying he was more like Sylvia Plath than she was.**

**Well, that's that. Hope you all enjoyed the story. I'll hopefully be writing more soon. Leave me reviews if you so desire :) **


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